International Arrest Warrant Lawyers

An international arrest warrant is a legal order issued by a national court requesting the arrest of a person located abroad. It is the formal legal basis underlying many INTERPOL Red Notice requests. International arrest warrants must be executed through formal extradition procedures — which can be challenged in courts of the arresting country.

An international arrest warrant is a formal legal instrument issued by a court or judicial authority requesting the arrest and detention of an individual in a foreign country. Unlike Interpol Red Notices — which are police cooperation requests — international arrest warrants carry binding legal force within bilateral extradition frameworks or regional systems such as the European Arrest Warrant (EAW).

At Intercollegium, our criminal law specialists have extensive experience navigating complex cross-border arrest and extradition procedures. We represent clients facing warrants issued by countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, France, the United States, the UAE, Ukraine, Turkey, and many others.

Many people confuse international arrest warrants with Interpol Red Notices. While both can lead to detention abroad, they are legally distinct instruments:

• Interpol Red Notice — a police cooperation request issued by Interpol at the request of a member country. It alerts law enforcement agencies worldwide but is not itself a legally binding arrest warrant.
• European Arrest Warrant (EAW) — a binding judicial instrument issued by an EU court, requesting another EU country’s courts to arrest and surrender the individual. EAWs are mandatory within EU member states.
• Interpol Diffusion — a less formal alternative to a Red Notice, circulated directly to member states without Interpol’s General Secretariat involvement.

The practical impact can be similar — arrest and detention while extradition proceedings begin. But the legal remedies differ significantly. Our lawyers advise on which instrument is in play and the most effective strategy to challenge it.

The European Arrest Warrant is a simplified cross-border judicial surrender procedure operating between EU Member States. Once issued, an EAW obligates the executing Member State to arrest and transfer the requested person within strict deadlines — typically 10 days for consenting individuals and 60 days for contested cases. Since Brexit, the UK no longer participates in the EAW framework, adding complexity to UK-EU cases.

Key grounds for challenging an EAW include:

• Dual criminality — the act must be criminal in both the issuing and executing state
• Fundamental rights challenges under the EU Charter and ECHR
• Specialty protection — you can only be prosecuted for the offence specified in the warrant
• Ne bis in idem (double jeopardy) — acts already tried in another jurisdiction
• Proportionality — courts in several EU states may refuse EAWs for minor offences
• Risk of inhuman or degrading treatment in the issuing state

Our lawyers regularly appear in EAW proceedings across multiple jurisdictions and can coordinate simultaneous defence strategies in both the issuing and executing state.

A significant proportion of international arrest warrants handled by Intercollegium originate from Russia, the UAE, and Turkey — jurisdictions where judicial independence may not meet the standards required under international law.

Russian warrants: Frequently motivated by political or commercial disputes. We challenge the admissibility of Russian warrants in receiving countries, citing systemic rule-of-law deficiencies documented by the ECHR and Freedom House.

UAE warrants: The UAE has become increasingly active in requesting international warrants, particularly in financial crime cases. Our lawyers have successfully challenged UAE-originated extradition requests in the UK, France, Germany and Cyprus by demonstrating due process violations and the risk of unfair trial.

Turkish warrants: Following the 2016 coup attempt, Turkey issued mass warrants targeting journalists, academics, and political opponents. We represent clients facing Turkish warrants, leveraging ECHR case law and Council of Europe resolutions criticising the Turkish judiciary.

Our defence strategy in international arrest warrant cases typically involves several parallel tracks:

• Immediate challenge to detention — filing bail applications and habeas corpus petitions
• Extradition challenge — contesting the legality and proportionality of the underlying warrant
• Interpol CCF complaint — if a Red Notice or Diffusion underpins the warrant, we challenge the Interpol notice to collapse the basis for the international warrant
• Human rights submissions — arguing that surrender would violate the client’s rights under Article 3, 6, or 8 ECHR
• Political persecution analysis — Interpol’s rules prohibit use of its systems for political, military, or discriminatory purposes
• Preventive measures — where a warrant is anticipated, we file a Preventive Request with the Interpol CCF to block any future notice

We have successfully defended clients against warrants from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and several other jurisdictions where political motivation is a recognised concern.

If you are facing an international arrest warrant — or fear one may be issued — time is everything. Early legal intervention dramatically expands your options and can prevent arrest entirely. Contact Intercollegium for a free, confidential consultation: call +357 96 447475 or use our secure contact form. Our lawyers are available 24/7 for urgent matters.